John Kerry: 'In America you have a right to be stupid'

US Secretary of State John Kerry advocated First Amendment-protected freedoms during an address in Berlin on Tuesday, and said that thanks to the US Constitution, "you have a right to be stupid if you want to be” in America.

Kerry, a long-time Democratic senator from Massachusetts and
former presidential hopeful, was speaking to a group of German
students when he opined about the benefits of freedom of speech,
religion and thought.

Even if ideas were unpopular, said Kerry, the US Constitution
allows for them to be voiced. And yes, that includes the stupid
ones.

"People have sometimes wondered about why our Supreme Court
allows one group or another to march in a parade even though it's
the most provocative thing in the world and they carry signs that
are an insult to one group or another," he said.

"The reason is, that's freedom, freedom of speech. In America
you have a right to be stupid - if you want to be," Kerry
added. "And you have a right to be disconnected to somebody else
if you want to be.

"As a country, as a society, we live and breathe the idea of
religious freedom and religious tolerance, whatever the religion,
and political freedom and political tolerance, whatever the point
of view," he said.

Kerry’s stop in Berlin this week marked only the second city on
the new secretary of state’s trip abroad. He was confirmed for the
position earlier this month, replacing former-Sec. Hillary Clinton
as the United States’ top foreign minister.